Barracuda schaakmat (Vandersteen comic)/plot
Biggles flies to a resort on the Mediterranean. He has been assigned to meet and protect one Miss Ellen Reynolds, the daughter of a famous oceanographer. At his hotel, Biggles gets a phone call. It's from Hawk! It says, mysteriously, that he has come too late. Biggles rushes to Ellen's room and discovers a chambermaid half conscious on the floor. She's Agent 42 of I.S. Biggles is too late. Two men dressed in sailor's clothes had come and kidnapped Ellen. The hotel porter reports that Ellen left with two men headed for the harbour about 15 minutes ago. Biggles rushes back to his aircraft and soon spots a submarine offshore. Two men and a woman are going on board. The submarine promptly shoots Biggles down and he is adrift in a dinghy. After two days and two nights, Biggles is finally picked up by Agent 42 in a motor yacht. With her radio, they call the French navy and learn that a French frigate, the Normand, had reported an unknown submarine in French waters. The ship had orders to sink the intruder if it refused to surface. Biggles urgently asks the navy to cancel the orders: Ellen is a hostage on board, But it is too late: the frigate has begun its attack and sinks the submarine. In London, Colonel Raymond gives Professor Reynolds the bad news. It can't be helped. The professor had received threats from Hawk but had waited too long before notifying Scotland Yard. Meanwhile, Biggles dives down to the site of the submarine wreck and finds something strange. The submarine is empty. All its crew have evacuated the wreck. In a cabin, he finds writing made by a lipstick: "Barracuda Base. E.R." An indication that Ellen might still be alive! Biggles reports back to Scotland Yard. Its files on Hawk do not have any references to a Barracuda Base. He consults Professor Reynolds. He shows a scale model of an undersea laboratory he had designed. Hawk had been after the details. Biggles speculates that Hawk may already have a base in the Mediterranean. The professor agrees. From the speed with which they evacuated the subamrine, he thinks that they mave have some sort of diving saucer or submersible. Biggles studies the Scotland Yard files and notices a former diver named Delport who was thought to have worked for Hawk. But before Delport can be reached, he is murdered. There is a tattoo of a barracuda on his forearm. A search of his lodgings reveals a camel whip made in Beirut. With these slim clues, Biggles makes his plans. Then one day, a buzzer sounds in the flower pot of Biggles' hotel room. It's a radio planted by Hawk. They want to exchange Ellen for the Professor and want an answer in two days. Biggles lifts his telephone which he knows Scotland Yard has tapped and allows Colonel Raymond to listen in. The Colonel swiftly arranges for a fake car collison and has the Professor admitted to the hospital as a severely injured accident victim, out of action for three weeks. This deception works to buy time for Biggles. Hawk agrees to call Biggles again after the professor recovers. Meanwhile, Biggles flies to Beirut in an amphibian and boards an Arab dhow, to be greeted by ... Ginger! Disguised as an Arab seaman. Ginger has kitted out the dhow to hunt for the undersea Hawk base. There is an echo sounder, a submersible and a human torpedo--to destroy it when found. Biggles calls his fellow agents in the Beirut station and gets a report that an unknown light aircraft had been making regular overflights of the eastern bay. Hawk could be expected to patrol the waters above their base, so Biggles sets course for the eastern bay. He is soon proved right--a red light aircraft arrives and begins to circle the dhow, photographing it thoroughly. Biggles and Ginger make a reconnaissance with their submersible. They fail to find the base but are attacked by a huge shark which smashes their vessel against some rocks. Fotunately, Biggles and Ginger are rescued by the crew of the dhow before their oxygen runs out. Biggles decides he needs a new approach and the red aircraft gives him an idea. Posing as a pilot enroute to Aman, Ginger lands at the Beirut Aviation Club, the most likely base of the red aircraft. He spots his quarry and learns that it belongs to Bennings, a rich businessman. Biggles sends Ginger to break into Benning's house to sabotage his electrical circuitry. When Bennings discovers his airconditioner has failed the next day and calls the company, Biggles shows up posing as a repairman and manages to plant some bugs in Bennings' office. From these, he learns that the Barracuda base is on a rocky plateau off the coast of Beirut near a ruined Roman tower. Biggles reports to Raymond in London and they get ready. Biggles tells Hawk that they agree to the exchange of Professor Reynolds for his daughter, but secretly, he makes ready to attack and destroy the base while the exchange is underway. Back in Beirut, Biggles and Ginger make a reconnaissance in the submersible and find the Barracuda base under a overhanging rock ledge on the seabed. They are almost spotted by a patrolling Hawk submersible but a giant manta ray emerges from the seabed in a cloud of dust, hiding Biggles and Ginger from view and allowing them to get back to their boat without being seen. In accordance with Hawk's instructions, Raymond brings Professor Reynolds to an appointed rendezvous on the beach by the Roman tower in near Beirut. Meanwhile, Biggles sets out for Barracuda Base again, this time piloting the one-man torpedo. Biggles uses strong magnets to secure the torpedo to the side of Barracuda Base and sets a timing mechanism. He then swims to the surface, following in the wake of a Hawk submersible which he surmises must be bringing Ellen up for the exchange. On the surface, two Hawk men help Ellen out of the submersible onto a rubber boat. Suddenly Biggles pops up and holds the men up with a gun. But the Hawk men don't give up so easily. They tell Biggles that they are dead anyway, since Hawk doesn't forgive failure. They try to shoot Ellen but Raymond has been watching from the shore and fires two shots from his pistol, killing both of them. Ellen rows ashore to be reunited with her father. Meanwhile Biggles calls the Barracuda Base from the Hawk submersible. He warns the men there to surrender and swim to the surface as the torpedo will detonate in the minutes. They ignore the warning and are blown up with the base. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)